Links you need.

A sneak preview on the left of the awesomeness coming tomorrow.

Our Best Bites: Single Serving Pies! In Jars! The cuteness here makes my head want to explode.  Almost as cute as these. 

Stick to Your Hips: A very pretty new-ish food blog I have been perusing. 

The kitchn: Quick Weeknight Meals Recipe Contest.  If you haven’t already been following along, the kitchn is the place to find quick, tried and true weeknight meals right now.  (Scroll down to see the list so far.  My fav? The drunken noodles.)

Cheesy Creamed Corn with Cilantro, speaks for itself.

I have been on a major soup kick lately, and Robin Sue’s Thai Shrimp Bisque is looking absolutely heavenly right now.  I also have two fantastic fall soups coming up next week.  The weather has been fantastic this fall, actually getting cool during the day-a rarity in September and October in Houston.   For some reason soup has really been on my brain as fall food, but I want to mix it up a bit. 

What’s your favorite fall/winter food?  Let me know in the comments and if you want, write me a brief recipe or include a link and I will pick one to make and photograph.

This is a great, fast recipe a friend gave me.  It makes a pretty impressive dish served over rice with fresh steamed veggies.  The black sauce should be available in the ethnic or Asian food aisle at the grocery store (I found it at Kroger for $3.39), or you can buy it online.  It is called kecap manis sedang, pronounced “ketchup,” and has a yellow label.  It is a delicious sweet, thick soy sauce and if you like Asian flavors it is definitely something to look for.   The red label is much sweeter and syrupy so try to find the yellow label.  This recipe is a simple family dish and can be made with fish, chicken, or beef.  My friend recommends adding potatoes and carrots if you make if with beef, and if you have kids who don’t like the soy sauce flavor she suggest adding 2 tablespoon of tomato ketchup to the sauce.

Salmon with Black Sauce

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 inch fresh ginger, minced
• 1 jalapeno, sliced, de-seeded as desired (optional)
• 1 1/2 lb salmon, cut into fillets
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup kecap manis sedang, medium sweet soy sauce, or “black sauce”
• 2 green onions, diced
• 2 tsp fried onions or fried garlic for garnish

1. Heat oil over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno.  Saute until soft.
2. Add salmon fillets, cover and turn heat to low.
3. Cook a few minutes, then flip each salmon fillet over and cover again.
4. Check salmon and when almost done add soy sauce and black sauce.
5. Remove cooked salmon to a platter or plate and boil sauce a few minutes or until thickened.
6. Pour sauce over salmon.  Garnish with green onion and fried onions or garlic.

Salmon is not my favorite fish, it is a little too fishy for me, but I would eat pretty much anything served this way. So if you want to eat more salmon but don’t care for it all that much, try it this way.  Or just use chicken, should be equally delicious!  Here is a fantastic steak dish I made also.

I purposely made extra carnitas last week so that I could make posole as it got cooler.  Posole is a Mexican soup made with pork and hominy that, like tortilla soup, is served covered with bright fresh flavors like cilantro, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocados, cheese, sliced radishes, and sour cream.  You get the deep, hearty flavors of a pork stew paired with creamy, cool, and crisp veggies-customizable any way you like it!

Posole

• 2 tbsp butter or bacon fat
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 cups cooked pork, like carnitas
• 1 cup roasted green chilies (canned or fresh), diced
• 2 (15 oz) cans white hominy, drained and rinsed
• 1-2 qts chicken or pork stock to cover

1. Melt butter or fat over medium heat and add onion, garlic, jalapeno, and spices.
2. Saute until veggies are soft.
3. Add pork, green chilies, and hominy.
4. Add stock to cover and simmer soup for about 2 hours or until flavors are well combined.
5. Serve with desired garnishes.

I actually made this in the crockpot by sauteing the veggies then adding everything to the crock pot and cooking on low until we were all home and ready to eat (about 7 hours).  The pork is already cooked and tender so you can cook this as long or as little as you want.  If you want to defat the soup, chill it over night in the fridge then remove the solidified fat from the top and reheat.

Back in July, Mark Bittman posted a fantastic article highlighting 101 salad ideas for the summer.  Since then, mrChaos and I have been working our way through the list in an attempt to add more fresh fruit and vegetables to our day.  Now that it is getting cooler, we are craving heartier fare but still want to eat dishes with less meat and fewer calories.  This “grain salad,” number 96 on Bittman’s list, is a wonderful, warm way to get some vegetables into your lunch.

It is a filling yet light tasting combination of sticky rice, sweet bursts and crunchy nuttiness with a spicy tingle in the background.  If you want more coconut flavor, add a splash of milk to the finished dish to loosen it up a bit.

Coconut rice with pistachios, peas, and spinach

• 1 1/2 cup short-grain rice (sticky or sushi rice)
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 cardamom pods (optional)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup roasted, salted pistachios, chopped
• 1+ tsp chili paste, if you can handle it or red pepper flakes-to taste-if you can’t

1. In a medium pot combine rice, coconut milk, water, and cardamom pods if using.
2. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low.
3. Cook on low heat without lifting the lid for twenty minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and allow rice to sit (still covered) for ten more minutes before lifting the lid and fluffing the rice with a fork.
5. Discard cardamon pods and stir in peas, spinach, pistachios, and chili paste or red pepper flakes.  I added about 2 teaspoons chili paste.
6. Salt to taste and serve warm.  It’s not too bad cold, either.

This stores and reheats well for lunches and would go great as a side dish with lamb chops or skewers of beef.  It’s also vegan-and delicious.